


06: This Heart's On Fire - Wolf Parade

by thestarsjustblinkforus



Series: Unrequited [6]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:15:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28704252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestarsjustblinkforus/pseuds/thestarsjustblinkforus
Summary: He happens to be sitting facing the door so he sees her when she comes in and it’s a whole Margot-Tanenbaum-stepping-off-the-Green-Line-bus thing where there’s music and slow motion and he starts to stand, starts to say “Hey”, and then everything suddenly speeds up and she’s walking right past him and he’s crouching awkwardly and Bahoral smacks him on the ass, because, hey, why not.
Relationships: Combeferre/Éponine Thénardier
Series: Unrequited [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/41487
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	06: This Heart's On Fire - Wolf Parade

_He happens to be sitting facing the door so he sees her when she comes in and it’s a whole **Margot-Tanenbaum-stepping-off-the-Green-Line-bus** thing where there’s music and slow motion and he starts to stand, starts to say **“Hey”** , and then everything suddenly speeds up and she’s walking right past him and he’s crouching awkwardly and Bahoral smacks him on the ass, because, **hey, why not.**_

_His cheeks flush and he sits and he doesn’t really know Eponine and she certainly doesn’t know him, so there was really no reason for him to address her at all except he sees her sometimes at the library running her fingers over the spines of the books, tapping at the titles like piano keys as she searches. She likes the classics. She likes Dickens and Flaubert and Hardy and he probably looks a little longer than he should, his arms stacked with returns that he’s supposed to re-shelve as she wanders the aisles with her arms outstretched, hands like fans._

_Marius first introduced her to everyone at last year’s Pride (which they don’t talk about because Marius tends to visibly shrink whenever it comes up) but he’d noticed her well before then. The first time he saw her she was sitting in the fountain outside of the library. It had been drained for the winter and no one said a word about her being on it because she has a way of being invisible when she wants to be, but he saw her. She drew his eye precisely because she didn’t give a shit if anyone did see her. She had been wearing a long wool coat, something kind of pumpkin-colored and vintage-looking tied at the waist with what looked like a man’s leather belt and one long leg had been draped over the side of the sculpture, swinging in a boot nearly to the knee but untied, the laces swaying, the tongue lolling, and the exposed skin against the black leather may have made him pause, may have made him swallow hard and blush into his scarf which made him feel completely ridiculous like some Victorian-era tosser getting turned on by a flash of ankle or something and **this is why you’re single, Combeferre…**_

_He’d seen her with Marius a few times before Pride as well, sharing lunch at that same fountain, talking, laughing quietly, walking together (sometimes with her hands in his pocket if it was cold out, awkwardly bumping against him and he’d throw an arm around her)._

_She doesn’t come to meetings, doesn’t hang out with them at all even when it’s a more social environment, so he has no idea if they’re romantically involved or what or…_

_He’s thought about approaching her at the library countless times, said in his head as she scratched lightly at the bindings, **Hello… Eponine, right? We’ve actually met once before.** **Are you enjoying** Heart of Darkness **? Did you know** Apocalypse Now **is an adaptation? They’re playing it at the Student Union for the film studies class… Do you like films? Would you like to see one? With me? Sometime? Maybe? AreyoudatingPontmercy? ShouldIjustfuckoff?**_

_She has Marius’s hand in hers and she’s leading him past their table, her dark eyes looking troubled and as she glances at them, vaguely murderous. Marius looks about thisclose to shattering into a million pieces and-_

_**“Get it!”** _

_Courf howls like a banshee and Jehan’s palm is suddenly on his cheek, turning his face away from their retreating backs and towards him as he practically climbs into his lap to claim his kiss. Combeferre accepts it with a good-natured laugh because it’s just a game, but once he’s there Jehan is suddenly delicate and kittenish and very **not-Jehan** about it which somehow makes it weirder than had he just frenched him which he was half expecting, because, **Jehan**. He raises his eyebrows at him when he draws back and immediately gets it when Jehan’s eyes slide over to Courf. He outright blushes when he sees that Combeferre has seen and he smiles softly because he gets it. He really really does and his own eyes flicker over to the door she has just exited after flipping them all off over her shoulder as Marius followed in a daze._

_Courf shakes his head, “She hates me so much, you guys…” and Combeferre tries not to be too obvious about trying to see if he can still see them through the pebbled windows as Jehan settles comfortably into his lap and hands him his whiskey._

_“‘Ponine doesn’t hate you,” Grantaire says as Courf takes a sip from his glass and he looks guilty like he’s not sure if he should follow them and it appears Grantaire is not quite as trashed as he looks because he slaps a hand heavily on Courf’s shoulder and says, “I can tell you unequiv-quivically though that she will murder you dead if you go out there right now.”_

_“Is he alright?” Feuilly expertly rolls a cigarette and licks the paper, sealing it shut. He quickly tucks it behind his ear as Huchelope sweeps by with a glare. “I know, I know. Outside. Ten feet from the door. Fucking ordinances…” and sighs as Courf answers with a quiet, “I don’t know…”_

_Jehan looks like he wants to touch him but stays in Combeferre’s lap, an arm slung around his shoulders, and maybe Combeferre’s still trying to see through the window if Eponine and Marius are even out there anymore, and Jehan’s fingers in his hair suddenly **tug** because **he sees too** and he gives him an eyebrow raise of his own._

_“'Ponine will make sure he’s ok,” Grantaire says and reaches for the empty bottle in the middle of the table. “'Ferre, I’m taking your turn. Feuilly, I will love you forever if you roll me one…”_

_Combeferre hears the bottle scrape across the table and the blurred shapes outside the pebbled glass window disappear as it begins to rain. He watches it hit the glass obscuring the outside completely and he reluctantly turns back to the game just in time to see the open mouth of the bottle pointing straight at him again. Jehan scampers away to make room and Grantaire launches himself at him, gives him a big smacking kiss that tastes like six different kinds of alcohol and is better than it should be considering and he thinks R might be the person to ask about what’s going on between her and Pontmercy because he’s pretty certain they’re friends and he has been spending way too much time wondering._

_Not all the time. Just whenever he sees her. Or thinks about her. Or is reminded of her._

_Grantaire falls back into his chair, arms raised in victory and crows, “I did everyone!” as Bousset kicks out a foot to keep it from tilting over completely and manages to end up with beer down the front of his shirt in the process._

_“Are we done?” he asks taking Joly’s proffered napkin and patting at his chest. “Since you won?”_

_“ **Everyone** wins with Spin th’ Bottle, Boussy,” Grantaire admonishes and Courf shakes his head._

_“No, no, I haven’t gotten to kiss Prouvaire yet,” and he leans over, turns the bottle with his hand to point directly at Jehan who is beet red and Courf pulls him into his lap while Bahorel whoops and flings himself towards the bar for another pitcher._

_“It’s really coming down,” Feuilly observes thinking of his unlit cigarette still lying in wait behind his ear and Joly squints out the window and mutters, “Shit. Did anyone bring an umbrella?”_

_A chorus of **no** ’s and **one more round then** ’s follow and Combeferre sips his whiskey as he looks at Jehan and Courf not looking at each other but holding hands kind of intensely, and Joly pinching Bousset’s elbow affectionately as he goes to get him another drink to make up for his spilt one and he looks at Grantaire who is suddenly silent and staring fixedly at the empty chair beside him that Enjolras would be sitting in if he were here and everyone knows, he thinks, but Enjolras himself that Grantaire is kind of desperately in **something** with him and Combeferre wants to hug him and say, **get out now before it completely destroys you.**_

_And then he chides himself for being a complete hypocrite because his crush doesn’t know he exists either._

_An hour and a half later R gets to his feet and stumbles outside after nicking Feuilly’s cigarette as he sleeps with his head on the table surrounded by an array of empty glasses and bottles, and he follows him under the guise of smoking one of his own._

_The rain has stopped, the sidewalk a little damp and glistening prettily. The stars are out and it’s chilly for summer but nice and Grantaire smiles at him, gives him an exaggerated wink as he shows him the bottle of vodka he’d managed to liberate while Huchelope was in the back, and Combeferre would have something to say about that except he saw Grantaire slip some money into the till surreptitiously when he was back there. As much as Grantaire wants everyone to believe he doesn’t give a shit, he really really does and it’s why Combeferre likes him so much. Why he convinced Enjolras to let him stay._

_Grantaire needs them. It’s perfectly obvious and has been from the very beginning, but they need him too. He keeps their feet on the ground, forces them all to consider things from a different perspective when he’s not just talking to hear himself talk and actually has something to say which is more often than Grantaire himself would probably like to admit._

_“Where’s Fearless Leader?” he tries to sound nonchalant which doesn’t work, which never works when he tries to inquire after Enjolras, and he lights both their cigarettes for them as he answers, “Library.”_

_Grantaire nods loosely, cigarette hanging off his lip, bottle dangling from his fingers._

_“Grantaire?”_

_“Yes, Combeferre?”_

_“You’re friends with Eponine, right?_

_“Oh, yeah. Yeah, she lives in my building. I’m teaching her how to play the guitar. It’s my guitar but she named her and plays her more than I do so I guess it’s kind of her guitar now.” He sways on his feet, takes a drag, takes a swig._

_“Is she seeing Marius?”_

_“Oh, yeah. All the time…”_

_“Romantically?”_

_Grantaire swings around to face him, his eyes a little hard as he points at his chest with his cigarette._

_“You like ‘Ponine?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Really?”_

_“Yes, really.”_

_“And what are your intentions?”_

_“To… take her out. To dinner. Or coffee. Or a movie. Anything she wants, really.” He takes a drag, breathes out the smoke and tries not to blush under Grantaire’s searching eyes that have suddenly become too focused, too intense._

_“And you think she an’ Pontmercy are dating?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“They’re not dating.”_

_“Oh.”_

_“She’s in love with him though.”_

_Oh._

_“Oh.”_

_“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’ ask her out.”_

_“…Ok.”_

_“Combeferre?”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“Does Enjolras fuck?”_

_And suddenly stinging, burning in his nose and down his throat and he coughs and coughs and gasps, “What?”_

_“You know. Have sex. Mess around. Date.”_

_“I… honestly don’t know how to answer that…”_

_“He doesn’t talk to you about that stuff?”_

_“Not… really, no…”_

_Grantaire laughs humorlessly, shakes his head at the stars and takes another swig. “I’m pretty well fucked aren’t I?”_

_Combeferre doesn’t answer but reaches to take the offered bottle and swallows a mouthful himself._

_“Crushes suck,” Grantaire says softly bringing his cigarette back to his lips and all Combeferre can do is nod and murmur, “Yeah…” as he hands the bottle back._

**Author's Note:**

> Track 06: This Heart's On Fire - Wolf Parade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KdzCCfRZ_I


End file.
